John Talbott

Today's Figaro, had an article by Sylvain Ouchikh (available only in hard copy or on the PDF version p. 35 until it gets posted next week on their Figaro Madame site) about the traditional drink with crepes - cider - and indicates there are the same differences between them as champagnes - brut, doux, etc.

I'm surprised no one has brought this old topic up to date with a report on Tambers. While by no means, great cuisine, it's great for takeout when Colette is in NYC and one is late coming home.

Metro had an article today on Parisian sites the film "Ratatouille" used; La Tour d'Argent apparently won out as the model for Gusteau..

Today's Metro says that pastry chef Christophe Felder will give crepes lessons the 7 Feb (and maybe the 6) 18h30-20h30 for 50 E at the Acclimatation Garden in the Bois de B., 01.40.67.99.05 and the recipe is 4-3-2-1, 4 glasses of milk, 3 eggs, 2 glasses of fluid flour and 1 pinch of salt.

I will repeat something I repeatly say: one can be practically anywhere in the city in good time. Don't be pinned down by what quartier you're in. And have fun.

An interesting update, perhaps. A relatively new place Le Petit Casier in the 15th, where we ate today, has a bathroom in the basement with the most wonderful antique wood doors - all the critics have noted them, so how on earth do you suppose they saw them?

Yes my dear friend, but the irony is that my German dishwasher is going strong after I gave it the triple-dose cleaning job recommended upthread but the oven just crumped suddenly without warning. In any case, I'm waiting for the frigo, micro and toaster-oven to die.

Interesting that Web Radio du Gout announced the lauch of their new website which should have info on everything members would want to know.

An update on the issue of the longevity of food appliances in France. I won't bore you with the details, but my oven, purchased 17 years ago, made weird clock-clicking sounds and stopped heating. Thinking the timer could be easily repaired, I called in an expert who said for 377 E he'd fix it; I consulted our trusty local expert Pti (who said buy and mid-range, don't even think to repair these newfangled machines), got instructions from Colette (buy and simple), treated my downstairs (tough) female neighbor to lunch so that she would come and tour BHV and Darty with me - resolution - a new oven for 405 E - that is, 28 E more than an uncertain repair. Now, I'm used to planned obsolesence in the US, but here, the home of WWII frugality, ancient, still-working kitchen appliances and German engineering? So, lesson to me - when the next thing crashes - it's off to the store.

I get it by going to Pinned: Eating, Shopping and Staying: France Forum Compendia 1 John Talbott 4,126 8th August 2007 - 09:21 AM Last post by: John Talbott which Felice points out is at http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=83491 Send me a PM if you have further trouble. John

I wasn't sure where to tuck this because so many topics deal with raw milk/pasteurized cheese, etc, but this AM's IHT had an interesting article by Michael Johnson where he compares America's rising interest in raw milk cheese with France/EU trends but holds out hope that at least at his shop, I assume near Bordeaux, there's no fear for the future.

Felice, I think you've hit on something. I remember how pleased I was when I came to France for the first time to find produce labelled by origin both in France and outside, but you're correct, how is/was it grown, harvested, etc? When visiting in New Zealand and was horrified to see my son-in-law take off his astronaut-like uniform after spraying his apples and just hoped the family was always upwind. I hope too that our discussion will not spin into stereotypes and cross-cultural misunderstandings; we all know how hard the French work to track the origin of say, beef and ensure its safety.

Just a warning for the all Arabian lovers. An eGullet loyalist ate there within the month and really had bad things to say, but two of us (another loyalist and I) had to see for ourselves. I'll be writing it up but my informant was correct and Lebey etc wrong. It's dreadful food, served so slowly that it gives "Slow Food" a bad name and herself isn't even near the kitchen. Details later, but if you go, don't complain afterwards, you've been forewarned.Back to Lebey. I suppose "best of its kind" could mean lousy food, slowly served by a conductor-less orchestra. Edited for spelling.

My experience was that once I'd made about 15 I could flip them with accuracy (The first ones were a disaster). But no coins were involved.

The Week of January 21st, 2008 Monday, in Le Fooding, Chloé Aeberhardt wrote up the bio resto Soya, 20, rue de la Pierre Levée in the 11th, 01 48 06 33 02, open Monday-Saturday 8 AM to 7 PM, formula at 11 € at lunch, serving everything from lentils to couscous with Gamay and a pineapple/kiwi/apple smoothie. Tuesday in A Nous Paris, Philippe Toinard awarded 3/5 blocks to OJ, coordinates given elsewhere, run by an ex-Ledoyen see below, who has kept Wally the Saharian’s furnishings but changed the menu to a bistronomic one with pumpkin soup, cod with caramel passion and mixed fruit crumble (there are lots of supplements); meanwhile Jerome Berger went and gave 3/5 to the new Ghislaine Arabian place Les Petites Sorcieres, coordinates also given before, serving regional (eg Northern) food such as potjevlesch (a terrine of white meat in jelly) as well as other stuff – oeuf mayo, ray with capers and pintade. Tuesday as well, François-Régis Gaudry reviewed the Ducassian-renovated Le Jules Verne, coordinates well-known where he had a 155 € menu, described in astronautic and show-biz terms and Andrea Petrini reviewed the Italian Osteria Valenti in Lyon. Wednesday, Richard Hesse in Paris Update reviewed Racines, coordinates given before, where he sort of liked what food they had but hated the forced wine non-choices – calling them “the Emperor’s new clothes.” Wednesday, in Figaroscope’s “C’est nouveau” Emmanuel Rubin awarded 2/5 hearts to Bigarrade, coordinates given before, with lunch formulas at 35 and 45 and 55 for dinner or about 60 € a la carte, serving “loft food” such as a terrine of oysters, pied de porc, scallops and little cream pots and the Italian Procopio Angelo in the 1st. Three places merited only one heart. They were: OJ, 4, rue Aime-Lavy in the 18th, 01.42.55.03.34, closed Sundays, running one about 40 € {OJ not standing for Mr. Simpson or orange juice but the chef – Olivier Jegousse} and serving a pumpkin soup, dorade and mixed fruit crumble; the “cantinette” Little Georgette, 9, impasse Gomboust in the 1st, 01.40.20.09.28, closed Sundays, running one about 25-30 € for paper-mache-like brandade of cod, duck with mashed potatoes and chocolate mousse; and the Cantine du 10, 8, rue Marseille in the10th, 01.43.49.27.67, open 7/7, running one about 20-30 (but a lunch formula at 14 €) for country paté, blanquette of veal and fromage blanc. And this week, their “Dossier” was all about what they called Minirestos: 14 covers Huitrerie Regis, Cabane aux Huitres + P’tit Casier 16 covers Spring, Petit Vatel + Bonjour Vietnam 17 covers Kaiseki 18 covers l’Entracte 20 covers Mercerie Mullot + Cantine Clandestina 24 covers Temps au Temps And for his part, Francois Simon went to Le Timbre for a salmon with lentils and dessert. And sneaking in another small resto, this with 25 covers La Cerisaie, coordinates well-known, Sylvain Verut conducted an interview with Cyril and Maryse Lalanne. Wednesday-Thursday, Jean Claude Ribaut had an article in Le Monde on Biarritz recommending the Hotel du Palais + Ahizpak. Thursday, Philippe Couderc of NouvelObs also reviewed Le Dali too and awarded it 14/20 for food and 13-14/20 for price quality. Thursday as well, the freebie ParuVendu had an article by Philippe Charles on “Eating lightly” that mentioned: Eat me in the 2nd, Bar a Soupes Giraudet in the 6th, A Toutes Vapeurs in the 8th, Bob’ Juice Bar in the 10th, Cuisine Fraich’Attitude in the 10th for cooking classes, Bar a Soupes in the 11th and Smoothie Time in the 13th as well as also rans: Bioart, Jour, La Guinguette a Vapeur, Supernature + Vapeur Gourmande. Jean Louis Galesne visited Troyes and recommends the following: Le Valentino, Le Bistroquet, Le Café de la Paix, Aux Crieurs de Vin, l’Hostellerie du Pont Sainte-Marie + l’Auberge de Sainte-Maure. Saturday, Francois Simon in Le Figaro, had a “Croque Notes” piece that featured the missing of another star by the Bristol and the new restaurant - Le Dali at the Meurice. He also had an article on patisseries outside Paris that are worth the trip: Bono + Jouvaud in Carpentras Seve in Champagne au Mont d’Or Croix-Rousse in Lyon Hirsinger + Bannnwarth in Mulhouse Gilg in Munster Christophe Roussel in La Baule Paries in St Jean de Luz Maison Ferber in Niedermorschwihr Meert in Lille And, Alexandra Michot talks of places in Paris outside the “great names” of Angelina, Laduree, Fauchon, Lenotre, Dalloyau, Carette, Pierre Herme, Hevin + Aoki such as Des Gateaux et du Pain from an ex-Plaza Athenee, l’Ecureuil daughter of Ralf Edeler, Nathalie Robert + Didier Martray ex-Gagnaire and Exceptions Gourmandes by Philippe Conticini. {Although I rarely mention non-French places}, a big article in the IHT Friday by Naomi Barry on an Afghan place The Afghanistan in the 11th, was so charming I thought it merited our attention. Saturday-Sunday, in Bonjour Paris, Margaret Kemp wrote an article on Louis XIII + l’Evasion in London and John Talbott an essay on “Mixing the Courses.” Sunday, in the JDD, Philippe Gauvreau of La Rotonde near Lyon reveals his preferred Parisian places for under 35 €: Caius + La Bastide Odeon. Jane Sigal in this month’s Food & Wine writes about four “Value Eats” in Paris: new is Coco & Co the egg place, renovated is the Taverne Henri IV and oldies are l’Alsaco + l’Entredgeu. Please post comments here and not in the Digest thread.

We've had this discussion elsewhere before and I'm going to start another topic on what could be an interesting conversation.

This is a discussion carried over from another topic We've had this discussion elsewhere before. I have a personal observation though.The "old rule" used to be that when you paid in cash, which we all did in 1910, if you liked the service you left an extra 5% as a tip (the yellow pieces that now Mme Chirac wants you to send to hospitals - not a bad idea by the way). I think that since credit cards came in though, the 5% or extra change is not left nearly as often. But many of you out there worked or work in the wait-business (me I worked construction), do you find tips in France dropping off?

Wow! I had no idea. Thanks, I haven't made crepes in 48 years and my crepe pan is long-since buried somewhere. But maybe I can cruise by a crepes place around Montparnasse for a celebratory one before lunch.

I just wanted to tag on here that there's a new book on the shelves of Cyril Lignac's 80 Recipes (from tapas to tagines to Buche de Noel) called "Chef", Hachette Pratique, 25 E, collaboration redactionelle by Sophie Brissaud and impressive photos by Mickael Roulier. (Disclosure: I was given the book by "our" very own Ptipois.)

Actually my local Greek traiteur has both caviar d'aubergines and blinis (that Phyllis found), so those are easy.

In response to the the topic on serving appetizers to Americans they cannot get there, I’m starting this new topic because I don’t think we have one on Corsican products in Paris. As you, Pti, probably recall, I had a shop a few meters from me, on the Rue Montcalm, and I took it for granted that I could just walk out and get all this stuff (lonzo, coppa, saucisson of semi-wild pig, figatellu) you mention anytime. Then, when it closed, our member Atar, started buying products at U Spuntinu, 21, rue des Mathurins in the 9th, a place special to him, housed on the street named (joke) after his hero in the Patrick O’Brien’s series. In any case, this is where I’ve gone since my place folded. Pti and others, do you have a better source?

I'm going to start a new topic because I think we need one on where to buy Corsican products.

It's interesting that to my knowledge none of our native French folk have expressed an opinion.

Indeed and wonderful, but hardly new, my records show it's been here since 1991, see here.

All it takes is a PM since this will not be an eGullet Society event but a small soiree/cocktail. How do we get an invite? ←